There are far too many stories in the news these days about priests, pastors and rabbis molesting children and getting away with it for years because nobody in the church or synagogue called the police on the perpetrators. The Catholic church hid problems with child sex abuse for decades (possibly centuries), never calling the police when they became aware of priests harming children. In nearly every case until very recently, it was the victim that alerted police, even when church officials knew of the problem. Sadly, we are now discovering that there are similar problems in Protestant churches and in Orthodox Jewish enclaves, with pastors and rabbis being protected from charges by higher ups. (The most recent story involved Nuchem Weberman, who was convicted Monday on 59 counts of sexually abusing a 12 year old girl for three years. In his case, religious leaders knew of the abuse but did nothing to stop it and did not contact police. Instead, they began a campaign of intimidation and threats against the victim and her family).

Sadly, when money is stolen from a house of worship, it's entirely different. The newspapers are full of stories of religious leaders calling the police immediately upon discovering that someone stole from the collection plate or is embezzling funds.

In all of these theft or embezzlement cases, church officials went immediately to the police when they discovered money was missing. They didn't try to sweep the problems under the rug or, in the case of embezzlement, transfer the priest, pastor or employee to another parish. No; they saw to it that justice was done swiftly. How despicable is it that the same consideration isn't given to children who are molested? When are religions going to consider children's lives and safety to be as important as money?